====== Archive Compress Unpack And Uncompress Files Using Tar Star Gzip And Bzip2 ======

**General Information**

You can do most all with tar, but it doesn't matter which tool you use to get the job done. 

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===== tar =====

Options
  * -c => create new archive
  * -t => list contents of archive
  * -x => extract files from archive
  * -z => compress or decompress in gzip (depending upon if -x or -c was also passed)
  * -v => display files as they are processed
  * -j => use bzip2
  * -r => append/add file to the end of the existing archive
  * -u => update a file in an existing archive if the source is newer
  * -f => archive filename
  * --selinux => include selinux contexts

Archive and compress (using gzip) the /var/log directory
<code bash>
tar -cvzf logs.tar.gz /var/log
</code>

\\
List contents of archive
<code bash>
tar -tf logs.tar.gz
</code>

\\
Decompress and unpack at the same time to current directory
<code bash>
tar -zxvf logs.tar.gz
</code>

\\
Decompress and unpack at the same time to a different existing directory
<code bash>
tar -zxvf logs.tar.gz -C /home/rjones/data/
</code>

\\
Add a new file to an existing archive
<code bash>
tar -rvf logs.tar newlog.log
</code>

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===== star =====

Install (usually not there by default)
<code bash>
yum install star
</code>

\\
Archive and compress the /var/log directory (name it logs.tar.gz)
<code bash>
star -cz -f logs.tar.gz /var/log
</code>

\\
List archive contents
<code bash>
star -t -f logs.tar
</code>

\\
Decompress, unpack a bzip2 (star auto selects proper decompression type)
<code bash>
star -x -f logs.tar.bz2
</code>

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===== gzip =====

Compress an archive
<code bash>
gzip logs.tar
</code>

\\
Decompress an archive
<code bash>
gzip -d logs.tar.gz
OR
gunzip logs.tar.gz
</code>

\\
Cat a compressed file (useful for rotated logs)
<code bash>
zcat messages.1.log.gz
</code>

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===== bzip2 =====

Compress an archive
<code bash>
bzip2 logs.tar
</code>

\\
Decompress an archive
<code bash>
bzip2 -d logs.tar.bz2
OR
bunzip2 logs.tar.bz2
</code>

\\
Cat a compressed file (useful for rotated logs)
<code bash>
bzcat messages.1.log.bz2
</code>

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